Lyrics

[Intro] I don't know about y'all I do not know about y'all but I feel a little bit fancy tonight [Verse 1] Well, I remember it all very well lookin' back, it was the summer I turned eighteen We lived in a one-room, run-down shack on the outskirts of New Orleans We didn't have money for food or rent, to say the least we were hard-pressed And mama spent every last penny we had to buy me a dancin' dress Mama washed and combed and curled my hair and she painted my eyes and lips Then I stepped into a satin dancin' dress that had a split from the side clean up to my hip It was red velvet trim and it fit me good Standin' back from the lookin' glass There stood a woman where a half-grown kid had stood [Chorus] She said, "Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down" She said, "Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down" [Verse 2] Mama dabbed a little bit of perfume on my neck, then she kissed my cheek And then I saw the tears wellin' up in her troubled eyes as she started to speak She looked at her pitiful shack and then she looked at me and took a ragged breath She said, "Your pa's runned off, and I'm real sick and the baby's gonna starve to death" She handed me a heart-shaped locket that said "To thine own self be true" And I shivered as I watched a roach crawl across the toe of my high-heeled shoe It sounded like somebody else that was talkin', askin', "Mama, what do I do?" She said, "Just be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy They'll be nice to you" [Chorus] She said, "Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down" She said, "Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down" "Lord, forgive me for what I do But if you want out, well, it's up to you Now don't let me down Now your mama's gonna move you uptown" [Verse 3] Well, that was the last time I saw my ma, the night I left that rickety shack The welfare people came and took the baby, mama died and I ain't been back But the wheels of fate had started to turn and for me there was no way out It wasn't very long 'til I knew exactly what my mama'd been talkin' about I knew what I had to do and I made myself this solemn vow That I's gonna be a lady someday though I didn't know when or how But I couldn't see spending the rest of my life with my head hung down in shame You know I might've been born just plain white trash But Fancy was my name [Chorus] She said, "Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down" She said, "Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down" [Verse 4] It wasn't long after a benevolent man took me in off the streets And one week later I was pourin' his tea in a five-room hotel suite I charmed a king, a congressman and an occasional aristocrat, hey And then I got me a Georgia mansion and an elegant New York townhouse flat And I ain't done bad [Verse 5] Now in this world, there's a lot of self-righteous hypocrites that call me bad They criticize mama for turning me out no matter how little we had But though I ain't had to worry about nothin' for now on fifteen years Well, I can still hear the desperation in my poor mama's voice ringin' in my ears [Chorus] "Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down" She said, "Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down" "Lord, forgive me for what I do But if you want out, well, it's up to you Now don't let me down Now your mama's gonna move you uptown," hey Well, I guess she did [Outro] Y'all give it up for this badass band one more time Now we're getting the party started